Saved by the Cat
by SomebodyLost
Summary: Wary yet intrigued with their coworker's latest behavior, Huang indulges Mao's curiosity. The consequences of that action changes the course of the future. [Distractions AU]
1. Suspicions

Welcome to another 'I'll start this awesome idea but update slowly' fanfic! This is a fanfanfic of another fanfic, namely _Distractions_ by **tsuki-llama**. Forever thanks to **tsuki-llama** for making that fantastic AU canon! It's fuel, it's life, and it got me through rough days after work. If you haven't read that, go read that right now since this fanfanfic won't be as enjoyable as it is. Oh, and read _All the Gang's Here_ as well; it pulls some stuff from there as well.

Thanks to the DtB Fellowship in tumblr as well! They're a mine of information and opinions that's definitely better than Google. Uh, I may or may not have used all of their info/headcanons, but still, thanks guys for putting your stuff out there. :)

And lastly, thanks to those who gave me their support and condolences when my great grandma died. To be honest, this fic wouldn't have taken off from my head if I hadn't been feeling too much feels and I just needed to vent it out, you know? So, thanks for those who supported me and well, kinda nudged me into releasing the feelings via writing. They immensely helped. :)

Also thanks to **Omnicat** for looking over these first few chapters years ago.

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**Chapter 01: Suspicions**

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"Wait, I need to talk to you, Huang."

Huang paused as he was about to shuffle out of the park. Hei was gone already after he'd volunteered to take Yin home, but Huang wasn't complaining about the lack of the detour. Though now Mao was more than making up for it with his delay.

"Fine. Make it quick," Huang replied, just to get away from the cat than any real pressing matter.

Purple eyes seemingly glowed from atop the slide. With complete seriousness, Mao announced, "Hei's acting weird."

"Congratulations, you get a cookie," Huang huffed at the obvious statement. But when the cat didn't stop his freaky gaze — honestly, it was creepy to get laser-eyed by a talking animal — Huang deigned to listen. "Weird how?"

"I don't know. More spacey?"

"Spacey?"

Mao rolled his eyes. "Look, I know you're not the smartest of the bunch—" he ducked his head from a thrown cigarette stub, "—but come on, don't tell me you didn't notice it?"

"If it's about him suddenly asking about the upcoming operation, I already told him off." Huang can already feel an incoming headache. Hei asking dangerous questions shouldn't be encouraged, particularly about what the higher-ups planned. The dangerous question in question was about their upcoming mission, a simple observation of doll trafficking. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, but Huang knew better than to air his grievances.

"It's not just that, Huang. Actually, you're our handler," Mao seemingly just realized, with complete disregard for Huang's authority, "has he said anything similar to you?"

Huang's finger twitched. Zero respect, that's what he got for risking his ass for these freaks. It was a bit sad that he was also used to it. "I'm not exactly cozying with the Black Reaper."

"Thank you for that mental image," Mao stated wryly. "But don't you think it's strange?"

"Be more specific, will you? Start from the beginning." This seemed like a long discussion; Huang groped his pockets for a new cigarette.

"It's not really sudden. More like... bits and pieces," Mao began. "Hei's already a strange contractor, but seeing that woman in his place really made me pay attention to him." He jumped from the slide and dragged the nearest pebble he could reach, rolling it back and forth on the ground between his paws.

"Woman?" Huang frowned. Mao usually sat and napped when giving reports. Playing with rock made him seem... twitchy. Like he was cat-fidgeting.

"Yeah. From what I gathered, she was the witness to that job about the flashdrive, the one sold by a professor."

"That the job with the MSS?" Huang clarified, forehead furrowed.

"Yeah. And the witness didn't see anything. But Hei still took her to his place. Saw them cozy together in the morning."

"Ain't exactly the first time Hei cozied with women."

"But Hei wasn't required to get close to this one," Mao pointed out. "The witness didn't see his face, didn't have the flashdrive, didn't have a solid connection to the target except for being a student. There's no rational explanation why Hei would take a girl back to his place and dress her in his clothes."

"They went that far?" Huang's brows rose in surprise, perturbed about the idea that the Black Reaper may have some sort of sex drive. So far, all Hei had done to the women he encountered in missions was to charm them, not outright seduce them. How'd anyone fall for that dopey 'Li Shengshun' act was beyond Huang. "Maybe he just gave her his clothes to change." Which was a better option to think about, but still didn't solve the puzzle.

Mao shrugged, equally disturbed, but his eyes never stopped gleaming. "Unlikely, but curious, isn't it? And I don't know. I think there's something... more. Something more he's specifically keeping. Keeping from _us_."

"How so?"

"There are a couple of jobs where I had to wake him up early. And he's not there. Sometimes I'd catch him walking back to his apartment before dawn, but he never tells me where he goes. And, I tested this on some days we don't have jobs; I staked his place — and he never sleeps in his apartment."

"You stayed up late for that?" Huang said in disbelief. The cat loved his nap, after all. Huang tapped the ashes off his cigarette. "Still, not really our concern where he sleeps. And you're a creepy stalker."

Mao ignored the insult. "Yeah, but why would he sleep elsewhere? The Syndicate provided his lodgings and stipend to pay for that."

"Maybe he wants better digs," Huang shrugged, but he couldn't deny his interest was now piqued.

"Maybe, but Hei needs his apartment to maintain his cover. It's important for him to keep a low profile; if he's sleeping elsewhere with better housing, he'll attract attention."

Huang deeply inhaled the cancerous stick in his hand, then exhaled in one drawn breath. "It _is_ questionable, I'll give you that," he admitted. "But what do you want me to do? There's not exactly an order that tells him not to sleep somewhere. And so far, he follows the Syndicate's objectives, little disobediences aside. Maybe he's bunking in one of the safehouses, for some freaky reason."

Mao abandoned the rock and stared, thinking. He scratched the ground, a cat form of a human scuffling in thought, maybe. After a few moments, he finally said, "I don't know, Huang. I just feel it's something. Not sure if it's big, but _something_."

"Hmph. Tell Yin to keep tabs on him."

"That's another thing, Huang. Yin says she doesn't know where he goes. Hei's not one to hide from Yin since she can fetch him for meetings when I can't find him. And if she can't find him, Hei could be purposely avoiding areas with water."

"Which is difficult to do since it's raining these days," Huang noted, rusty detective's intuition uncomfortably pinging. "Which means Hei could be really hiding something, or he just found a new dig without any water." Huang stubbed his cigarette harshly on the bench he sat on.

He didn't like Hei, but he didn't _actively_ dislike him. Sure, kid was a pain in the ass, but they work well together. Better than his previous parade of freaky partners, if he was pressed to admit.

Huang scowled. He must be getting too comfortable with _these_ merry band of freaks.

"Keep an eye out," he decided. "I don't want to bring this mess to the Syndicate if we don't have to. With luck, it could be just another one of Hei's little disobediences."

But then, when has Hei ever been that simple?

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Please comment and review! :D


	2. Trouble

Thanks again to **tsuki-llama **for letting me borrow her Distractions AU and **Omnicat** for looking over these first few chapters years ago.

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**Chapter 02: Trouble**

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Huang scanned his newspaper, staring at the baseball team he always gunned for. Yet his mind was miles away from the Japanese Tigers.

Damn Mao for bringing another potential issue about Hei last night. The cat had went off to investigate Hei again so soon after the mission, withstanding the rain and leaving Huang to grab the target. He would've felt a grudging respect for the cat's dedication had Mao not left him to deal with the captive alone.

It had already been months, but Mao had been faithfully keeping with his periodic reports about Hei's strange actions — which should now be considered Hei's new normal by now, Huang thought — from time to time. It wasn't _too_ intrusive, but he didn't appreciate having Hei constantly on the back of his mind.

Hei was, well, a 'normal' contractor during briefings and missions — cold, aloof, typical contractor stuff — so Huang didn't see a real reason to report anything to the Syndicate. In fact, he was coming to the point of smacking Mao to just drop the matter and give him some peace.

Outside of their missions, Huang lived a normal life. As Kuno Kuyoshi, he generally ambled quietly, content with reading the papers and drinking his liver away, only interacting here and there with former classmates and colleagues if they stumbled on him.

His life as Huang — or any alias the high-ups thought funny to name him with — was supposed to be separate. _Used_ to_ be_. Not that the Syndicate ever told him he had a nine-to-five job that could exist separately from his personal life. But the illusion was nice; he has a legal name and life he can always scurry back after doing whatever the Syndicate wanted him to. The perks of being an operative in his own city, he supposed.

And now that safe illusion is being threatened with thoughts and worries of the asset he had the most displeasure of working with.

Huang glared at the printed six-five score of the Tigers, trying to drive thoughts of whatever freaky stunts the asset might be doing, trying to cling to whatever 'normal' Kuno should have, and trying to ignore the man that just came from outside. It became impossible when the man casually sat beside his seat.

Without preamble, Baseball Hat Guy asked, "How's our top asset?"

It was worrying that those were the first words that BHG asked, in light of what Mao had been reporting. Huang answered, "That asset is still a pain in the ass."

"Any hints he might be acting stranger than normal?"

Huang snorted to mask his rising panic. "I don't really know his 'normal' since he ain't acting like a typical contractor all the time."

"What about in off-hours?"

Huang's scowl was now really from irritation that Hei was causing him trouble even in absence. But mostly because if BHG was _this_ persistent, that meant something _did_ happen.

_That freak owes me._

"I ain't exactly cozying with the Reaper, so no, I don't know. Why, what's up with him?"

"Hmph. Nothing to worry about. At least, not yet."

_Yet_. Huang took a big swig of his drink. "Right. Is that the only reason why you called?"

A manila envelope thwacked on the table. "The Syndicate have finally found a chance to get rid of a contractor that had eluded them for years. Hei is to infiltrate the cult and kill her."

"Cult?" Huang reached for the envelope and fished for the folder. The picture on the top was of a blonde woman garbed in honest-to-goodness fancy robes. Who wears _robes_ at this day and age? "The hell?"

"The founder of the Friends of the Gate. Codename Alma," BHG explained. "We already have an agent deep in that group, and she'll give 201 additional info when he's in." BHG smirked behind his drink. "Don't let the familiar face stop you."

Familiar face? Huang scanned the rest of the papers before coming to another picture, this one of the mole.

"This won't be a problem?" BHG asked when Huang didn't comment or made a sound.

"No," Huang gruffly answered, wishing for a nicotine fix now. He slammed the folder close.

"Not even curious?"

Jamming a cigarette to the bastard's face would be a nice destresser. "I'm just a puppet. I'll do whatever the Syndicate tells me to do." Huang couldn't keep the bitterness from his tone.

BHG stood and left some coins on the counter. "As long as you do your job, you'll be fine." Then he paused. "One more thing."

"What?" Huang growled, unseeing eyes on his paper.

"Keep BK-201 in line."

Huang pointedly kept his attention back to the Tigers' latest scores as the other man exited the establishment. Then his eyes fell on the folder. Scowling, he then tipped his then-neglected drink, left some change, then briskly walked out to his jeep. Inside, he fished in his pocket for his radio. "Mao, speak up. We have a problem."

Static, before Mao replied, "Hmph, That's my line."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Huang said, irritated.

"It's about Hei. Pick me up at the usual. This conversation should be in somewhere private."

"Fine." Huang grabbed a cigarette and flicked his lighter harshly.

_Damn it all._

—

When Huang arrived at the playground, Mao was pacing, not doing his customary cat nap or cat play. A bad sign.

"Remember when I told you that I needed to look into something last night?" Mao said without preamble, walking towards his direction.

"Yeah. What the hell was that about? You're lucky I didn't tell the Syndicate that you bailed." Huang followed Mao back to his car, uneasy. It seemed serious enough that Mao would prefer something more isolated than their usual place.

"The target was already neutralized and the mission was done. I wasn't sure if Hei was still tuned to our channel, so I didn't get to explain in detail," Mao explained in an unapologetic tone. He shook his head, his bell jingling. "Anyway, I now know what's up with Hei."

"What?" Huang asked as they stopped before his jeep. He opened the passenger door and held it.

Mao peeked left and right before jumping into the car. He didn't say a thing until Huang went round and seated himself in the driver's seat. And then, quietly,

"He and the lady cop are involved."

Three beats passed, before—

"What?!" Whatever it was, _that_ was _not_ what Huang was expecting. "Involved how?!"

Mao hesitated. "They kissed."

"What?"

"They _kissed_."

"_What?_"

Mao rolled his eyes. "Kissed. Made out. Sucked face. Exchanged saliva—"

"I know! You…" Huang growled as he trailed off. He took off his cap and rubbed his head in agitation. Huang wanted to say '_you're kidding_', but the cat's nervous and serious demeanor stopped him.

"The hell," he finally breathed. He lit a cigarette. "Are you sure?"

"I'm very sure," Mao sighed.

Huang rolled the window down and leaned an elbow out, keeping an eye out for eavesdroppers in the empty street. He demanded, "Start from the top."

—

Mao crouched from atop a concrete outcropping of the hotel building, peering intently down at the fight on the street below. Across his building, Yin's specter floated on a balcony, out of sight of the combatants, on standby to tell Huang when to step in. Muscles tense, Mao resisted the urge to shake the light drizzle falling on his eyes and whiskers; shaking his head would shake his bells — who thought it was a good idea to install his radio in the damn things? — and it might give him away to the couple battling Hei.

Hei spun, throwing a knife towards one of the contractors, a woman, as he kicked the man towards a wall in one smooth movement. The knife landed neatly through the woman's hand, but the man was already scrambling up while using his power. The woman grunted in pain as Hei drew another blade while he dodged a blob of water, but a second blob behind him knocked the knife off and pinned his hand to the wall. Another blob formed and pinned the other hand before Hei could reach for his other knives.

Mao debated whether to jump in now. Completely focused on the struggling Black Reaper, the male target was open for attack, but from his vantage point, he could see that the woman could join any time despite her bleeding hand.

All three combatants were focused on each other; as such, Mao was the only one who saw the door from the hotel open.

_Damn it, it's that meddling cop again_, Mao thought in dismay as the lady cop — Kirihara? — stepped into the street. He heard Yin reporting the development to Huang as Mao studied her taking in the scene; the woman who's still clutching her bleeding hand, Hei pinned on the building across the street, and the male target still glowing blue.

Gaze determined, the lady cop planted her feet and brought up her gun.

Mao tensed, then breathed in relief that the gun was trained on the male target, not Hei. The target crumpled to the street with a surprised cry, but he managed to hold on to his water construct.

Still, the distraction let Hei retrieve his knife. Desperately fending off attacks, Hei dove to the ground to dodge a lashing strike and sent a current of electricity through a large puddle. Unfortunately, the male target saw it coming and flung himself up onto the curb. The crackling sparks dissipated harmlessly on the edge of concrete.

It was clear that Hei needed help. Mao noticed from his perch that the lady cop had aimed her weapon at the male contractor's head. Why she didn't do that before with the first shot was beyond him.

"Don't move!" Kirihara stupidly announced. "Or I'll—"

The other target had recovered enough and ran towards the cop. Mao kept an eye on them, long enough to see the cop's shot miss and the female target's hand close on the lady cop's arm. Then he jumped to a lower outcrop, away from the women.

The movement jingled his bell; Mao knew Hei heard it when he spun from the male target instead of closing in. Focused on Hei, the target either dismissed or didn't hear him, and Mao yowled as he pounced.

The target instinctively looked at the sound, smack right at Mao's incoming claws. The synchrotron radiation beneath his claws dissipated, leaving a man struggling wildly at a cat attached to his face. It only lasted a few seconds; Mao jumped to the ground just as Hei closed in.

"Don't!" came a cry from the women's side, but Hei had already shocked the male into unconsciousness.

"One down, one more to go," Mao said wearily. He gave himself a shake, dispelling some of the rain water that was clinging to his fur. "Then we can deal with the lady cop." He eyed the disheveled Kirihara; she must've been the one who called out.

In the background, Mao could hear Yin quietly reporting to Huang as the women started to struggle from the ground. Then the cop paused at the sight of her arm; Mao could guess that a handprint outlined in blue was on her skin.

"I'll roll the car in. Let's mosey," was Huang's gruff reply.

The optional target finally staggered to her feet. She was a couple of yards away from Hei and Mao, but her smug and vindictive expression was focused on the cop. Then she turned on her heel and ran.

Before Mao could reply to Huang, a gasp came from the cop. She pressed a hand hard against her chest, and Mao felt grim satisfaction that she would never get in their way again.

The cop collapsed onto her forearms, mouth gaping uselessly as she lay dying. She cast a clearly desperate glance at Hei, who was looking between her and the fleeing woman.

But the mission was done; there's no rational need to go after the other target. Mao started, "Well, we only need the one—".

"Yin, track her," Hei cut in and bolted after the contractor.

"Hei, wait! Damn it, what now?" Mao muttered as he dashed off after his partner. Then he paused; this counted as strange behavior, right?

"Huang, I need to look into something. Could be important." Mao jumped up to a ledge and made his way towards the direction Hei disappeared, keeping himself above street level to hide himself from potential watchers. Yin's specter, he noted, was gone from its perch.

"Mao, what the hell are you talking about? We need to bag the guy and report to the Syndicate," Huang demanded.

"I don't have hands, so you know I won't be able to help with that," Mao pointed out mildly. "Besides, I have a feeling that this one's gonna be important."

"It better be," Huang growled. The radio's static fell quiet. To be extra sure of stealth, Mao roughly pawed his collar to dislodge the bell. It fell to the corner of the ledge with a slight _chink_.

Mao stealthily made his way to the direction Hei disappeared to. Yin's specter was just a couple of windows ahead, making Mao pause and debate whether to forge ahead or creep out of her sight. Deciding to err on the side of caution, Mao jumped to a lower outcrop, using the upper ledges as barriers from someone looking down to the street below.

He arrived just in time to see Hei slash the target's throat. The woman's eyes, mouth and throat were open wide. Messy, Mao can't help but note; Hei was usually clean and efficient, but for some reason, he didn't take the time to do that. He just... caught up with the target and spun her around with a wild slash to the throat.

Frozen in front of the cooling body, the blood-splattered mask of the Black Reaper eerily stood out from the dark alley. Hei's head was tilted, like he was listening, and Mao's assumption was right when Hei suddenly spoke, "I have to go back to my shift."

Huang must be speaking about picking up the male target. Or complaining, since he had to pack the guy alone.

Then Hei reached for his earpiece and fiddled with the settings, looking at the lone specter. "Yin?"

Mao strained his ears even though he knew it would be in vain. Hei began to move back to the hotel, uncaring of the grisly crime he left behind. But despite his claim to go back to his cover, he didn't move in haste.

And Yin seem to be going along with it..

Her specter disappeared; she must've given a reply on another channel. Hei's head jerked up and he threw a wire to somewhere above as Yin's specter disappeared. Mao tensed, in fear that Hei would look at his direction and see him, or absurdly, that Yin would report him. But Hei simply zipped past him and landed on another outcrop. He then jumped on a narrow ledge and ran back towards where the fight took place.

Mao followed, a sinking feeling in his gut. Hei lied brazenly, but worryingly, he took the time to go on another channel with Yin. It felt practiced, not at all unusual, that they'd share a radio frequency the rest of the team didn't use.

He wondered if he should chance it — get his radio back and change the frequency to hear what they're saying — but he didn't want to risk Hei hearing any sound from his direction.

Rapid footsteps came from ahead. Mao squinted, then blinked in shock at the figure half-running, half-stumbling in the dark.

The lady cop survived? Most likely because Hei killed the target. And most likely the cop was following them to this path. She would be on foot, but even with a gun, she would still be recovering from asphyxiation. She would be easy prey if the Black Reaper met her head on.

But the Black Reaper just paused as the cop ran past below him. Beyond, walls shone by headlights with a low thrum of an engine announced that Huang's jeep just rolled in. Hei jumped on another alcove and decided to perch himself just above the path that led back to Keio Plaza Hotel's backyard.

_What the hell?_ Mao asked himself. From what he observed, the cop had no back up this time; this would be the perfect opportunity to eliminate a loose end, or at least, knock her out.

But Hei waited, patient for the inevitable footsteps hurrying back to where Huang was manhandling their target. When the lady cop ran past below Mao's position, Hei sprung to action, landing silently behind her. Unseen by humans, Yin's specter floated on a puddle beside her. The cop paused as she panted, probably squinting into the street at Huang.

Then Hei wound an arm around her chest and clamped a hand over her mouth. That could've been what Hei would've — should've — done to the other target before killing her. Mao had seen Hei do the exact move to silence many targets in many times. It made less noise and less blood.

But Hei didn't glow blue, nor take out his knives or wires. The cop began to struggle as she was pulled tight against Hei, but the moment he leaned closer, she stopped. Mao slinked carefully to the duo — trio, counting the specter — making doubly sure that he was neither heard or seen by anyone looking from the street or a window above. _Why didn't he knock her out?_

Hei maneuvered himself and the cop into a darkened doorway so that they were hidden from Huang's line of sight. Together, they watched Huang's portly figure grumble and manhandle the bound contractor into the back seat of his jeep; as soon as that was done, Huang climbed into the car and drove off into the misty night.

Once he was completely gone, Hei removed his hand from the cop's mouth, but he still didn't let her go. Instead, with telling familiarity, he shifted his grip from her torso to her shoulders. Without ceremony, he spun her around to face him and pushed her against the wall. She gasped in surprise.

Mao himself almost gasped in surprise when the Black Reaper didn't proceed to knife or electrocute the cop, instead demanding in a dark voice, "What the hell did you think you were doing?" he demanded.

"My job!" the cop shot back in a ragged, raw voice — a voice that belonged to a desperate woman, not the stern cop earlier. Mao could only stare as she angrily pushed his hands from her shoulders with no fear. "A man was just murdered in there! And you did nothing to stop it!"

Hei's shoulders hunched slightly, but it was a marked demeanor against the Black Reaper earlier. "My orders changed. They wanted the assassin, alive."

Mao's eyes widened as his brain caught up to what he's seeing.

"At the cost of their own man?" the woman continued, voice rising. "Why didn't you tell me? We could have worked out a way to save Tsukuda and still catch the contractor!"

Worked? _We?_

"Save him? Why?"

"Because he was a human being who didn't deserve to die," was the cop's quiet but firm reply.

It was a stupid and sentimental thought. Mao caught himself from almost snorting.

Hei agreed with him. "He was one of the Syndicate's higher-ups; now he's one less villain for you to have to worry about."

"That's not how that works, and you know it!" the woman snapped, hysteria edging beneath her tone. "I know you know it! Why can't you just stop pretending?"

"What are you talking about?" There was a nervous edge to Hei's tone, something Mao never heard outside of his Li guise.

"This!" Kirihara reached up and ripped the mask from the Black Reaper's face and threw it to the side. It shattered on the asphalt, but Mao paid it no mind; he was too fascinated by Hei's expression of startlement.

"Stop acting like a goddamn contractor all the time; just let yourself be human!"

A thunderclap boomed through the city, punctuating Kirihara's cry. Mao flinched at the eerie timing; belatedly, he realized that the preceding lightning could've lit the street enough to reveal him, but thankfully everyone was too absorbed, even the spectre.

Eventually, Hei replied in a low, dangerous voice that Mao had to strain his ears, "I'm not human; I'm a contractor. Why can't you remember that?"

Continuously defying the norm, Kirihara shook her head. "You have every single emotion that a normal human has; all you have to do is let yourself feel it. You have to feel it; but you keep hiding it, even from me." There was an angry, desperate plea from her tremulous voice.

It was stupid. Contractors don't have feelings, attachments that the vulnerable Kirihara thought the Black Reaper has.

But Hei reached out and tenderly brushed the woman's dripping hair from her face. Kirihara trustingly pressed her cheek against the hand that killed more than a dozen of her case victims.

"I don't hide anything from you," Hei said quietly.

Maybe he's playing her, Mao thought. Hei excelled in lying, making people trust him. How else can he get Kirihara to seek his dangerous embrace as warm safety?

_Or maybe I'm just sick with fever or something._ After all, cats aren't built for water, yet he already has several inches of rain tattooed on his skin. It was a more rational explanation than Hei — and Yin, her specter was still right _there_ — not doing... whatever...

...Whatever _this_ is, which is Hei kissing Kirihara with visible desperation, and Kirihara returning the favor.

Mao stared and stayed, even as they eventually stopped and Hei escorted his woman — isn't _that_ a thought? — back to the building. Yin's specter disappeared as the door clicked behind them, leaving the waterlogged cat alone, dazed and confused.

He jumped back to the ground. When he landed, a glint in the corner of his eye caught his attention; it was the forgotten knife that Hei dropped earlier.

If BK-201, an exceptionally dangerous and careful contractor forgot to clean up this crime, forgot all else except for—

Mao pawed the knife absently.

He wasn't entirely sure, but he knew in his gut that whatever he saw then, it clearly wasn't a lie.

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~Please review! :3


	3. Denial

"Damn it. Of all the — and that guy just said to keep him in line!" Huang nearly tossed his cigarette out the window.

"That guy? What guy?" Mao asked.

"The guy with the baseball hat. _ My _ handler, remember?"

"Ah."

Huang had made Mao meet That Guy to help him report about the missing cipher for the usb that involved the MSS. The case that had led Hei to cozying up with another woman.

That other college woman. Huang had relayed news to the team about the job, having asked for some info since it was unclear if they were going to have further orders. Turns out, the student had contacted the lady cop before getting kidnapped and probably would have gotten killed if the Black Reaper hadn't come in to kill his war buddy. College woman had called the lady cop in the confusion, and lady cop charged in and solved the case.

An airtight explanation that, combined with the damning knowledge last night, now reeked of convenience.

"You think Hei's trying pull one over the Syndicate?" the cat eventually asked in the smoke-filled silence.

"You think he's trying to leave?" Huang furrowed his eyebrows. "If he is, he's being stupid. More than usual anyways." Huang rubbed his head. "But there's no other rational explanation."

"Except that Hei doesn't always act rationally," Mao pointed out.

"He's disobedient," Huang added.

"Yeah. Outright impulsive."

"A pain in the ass."

"Eats too much for no good reason."

That was random, but is it really? Outside of anime, no one does that kind of bizarre behavior that's unrelated to a price. Huang didn't know if it's related to Hei's inconsistencies, but it felt wrong to disregard it. Huang added, "Screws up our jobs for no good reason."

"Ah, that reminds me," Mao piped in, "he also helped a doll escape. You know, that job with the yakuza? The yakuza kid there asked Hei for help, and he obliged," the cat smirked at Huang's surprise. "Bet he's also responsible for the botched doll trafficking watch we did months ago. Section Four got the dolls, remember?"

"That was also the time Hei suddenly had asked why the Syndicate was interested in doll trafficking," Huang grimaced. "So he gave a tip to Section Four's chief, who he apparently has a secret affair with. And it ain't the first time."

How many women had Hei charmed ever since arriving in Tokyo, inadvertently or not? There was also that other woman from Section Four, who had ended up stalking him. It was ironic that Hei was prepared to kill her, the big police guy, and the lady cop that night, only for Hei to jump into an affair with the lady cop. Or maybe that was when the sparks first flew? Did the lady cop really lose her memory in that night? That was in spring, so Hei has been seeing her since March?

Then again, there was also that time in June, during the rainy season. When he found the cop skulking around his jeep. Huang had left Hei to take care of her, which he probably did, but not in the way the team expected.

"You know," Mao thoughtfully said after another round of mutual silence, "I told Hei that morning, when I caught the student at his place, that women and men who usually spend the night together have less clothes in the morning, partly as a joke. But turns out the joke's on me, huh?"

Unable to stop himself, Huang made a face. _Of all things..._ "What are you getting at?"

"Hei's an atypical contractor. And I think it's time to accept that and act accordingly."

Huang slowly exhaled, rusty detective's intuition pinging again. It had been more or less dormant since he joined the Syndicate since his jobs were usually straightforward with a notable lack of puzzle-solving involved. Trust to have his pain-in-the-ass asset zap it back to life... alongside uncomfortable thoughts.

"If Hei didn't have his freaky powers," Huang asked slowly, "but acted as normally as he does, what would that make him, Mao?"

"Hei's not a normal contractor, so…" Mao blinked, "a ... human?"

It was a simple answer, but it was also very, very stupid. And frighteningly dangerous. Because it made so much sense. If Hei was a contractor who have human emotions—

Huang wanted to deny that. Deny and not get caught up in Hei's crap, because if Hei, atypical but still a contractor, is genuine about this—

"What are you holding in there?" Mao asked.

Huang looked down and saw his hand gripping something in his jacket. It felt like crinkled glossy paper; a copy of the picture of the mole, he realized. He didn't even know his hand drifted there. "Nothing. Just our next mission."

Mao looked skeptical.

"If he's trying to leave, he'll need to run," Huang plowed through, forestalling Mao's questions. Jumping back to facts. Anything to be away from how the situation was beginning to be eerily familiar. "Run forever until he gets killed or the Syndicate tires of him. But why now?"

Mao shot him a suspicious look but let it go — for now, Huang knew. The damn cat's curiosity did last for months. Instead, he said, "Could be that it's rational for him to stay with the Syndicate at the time."

"How so? The Syndicate's been around for a decade. Remember his file? He's been with them practically since the beginning." Huang shoved the uncomfortable thought that twenty-something Hei has been a Syndicate agent since he was a kid.

"He was a kid back then, right?" Mao unknowingly trampled his avoidance. "Could be that, as a kid, he's more vulnerable and he knew it. Eventually, it became practicality; after a decade of service, the Syndicate knew him inside and out, after all."

"But they didn't see this coming," Huang pointed out. "There are also other contractors who had been with the Syndicate since the beginning. His war buddies, remember? So why now? What's the difference?"

"Proximity to the Gates? From the files I've read, he's the only contractor I know who'd been close to the centers of the Gates."

"Might be," Huang allowed, "but Hei's already kooky even before he got missions to get close to Hell's Gate."

Mao's tail flicked as he wondered, "The women?"

"But he's most likely been in seduction jobs. He charmed that scientist pretty fast in our first outing, remember?" In hindsight, an uncomfortable notion that Hei was also genuinely attracted to the woman came up. Why else didn't he kill the damn puppet immediately?

"That was acting, although maybe..." Mao trailed off, before sitting up straight. "How many seduction jobs has he done?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Huang firmly stated.

"Yeah, but just humor me. I didn't love nor hate tuna when I first came into this body, but now I can't get enough of it. Contractors are apathetic to most things, but here am I, saying that my favorite food is tuna."

"Are you saying you also got Hei's crazy?"

"No, Huang," Mao said exasperatedly. "I meant to say that maybe, things compounded. My other handlers kept giving me tuna because it's what the cat body wants, but along the way, I grew to like it. So maybe, Hei's that way. Hei's issue just... stacked, because he kept... doing them?"

Huang looked away; he saw his green reflection on the mirror. "What the hell are you saying?"

"I'm saying that maybe his apathy is getting eroded by a..." Mao audibly cringed, "...budding sexuality?"

Huang choked on his cigarette.

"Hey, I know it's stupid and irrational," Mao grumpily said while Huang hacked from his smoke, "but it's _ Hei_. I don't know what to think of him."

Clearing his throat, Huang got himself in control. "You're right." Then he tried another angle; somewhat related to Mao's statement, but _safer_. "The women — the student and the cop. What do we know about them?"

"Nothing much. The student is a normal, college student. Chinese?" Mao cocked his head. "Hei is Chinese too, right?"

"Maybe. BHG did tell me they use Chinese aliases with him." Some indirect way to show who's the main guy in their freak show. Huang added, "You think that has got to do with something?"

"You think he has a type?"

Huang shrugged. Seems unlikely, but what the heck.

Mao thoughtfully rubbed his seat with a paw; at least he didn't extend his claws. "Don't know if they got together more than once though. The lady cop though, now that's something. _ Really _ something."

"You said she's aware of who he is? And he told her about the job last night?"

"Yes and yes, but he didn't tell her about the change to the job."

Gritting his cigarette harshly that he can taste the raw tobacco, Huang couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice. "Could be that he's playing her."

"I thought so too. But last night... you didn't see his face last night, Huang," Mao said, sounding... awed. "It was like Hei, but, but more? I can't explain it well. But I know Hei's face when he's undercover. I know how he is when he's not — when he's talking to us. But last night he wasn't undercover, and he showed something else that he didn't show to anyone else — except for her."

"A new act, then."

"I don't know, Huang. I mean, the lady cop was _ dying. _Why hurry after the female target if not to save the cop?"

"Tied a loose end."

"Thought so as well, but the kill was messy, done sloppily. The Black Reaper could've spent more seconds to do it cleanly, but instead Hei just yanked the target and slashed wildly at the throat," Mao nodded to himself. "Every second was precious. Hei killed the secondary target for her."

"The target was running away, Mao. No time to go clean and dandy."

"Hei had gone after running targets in worse conditions than rain in the past," Mao reminded him. "Compared to those, I say that last night was desperation."

"Well, worse conditions or not, the rain was pretty bothersome. Maybe he wanted out of it. He had a cover to go back to, and he couldn't do that without looking like a drenched cat."

Mao narrowed his eyes at the jab, but he also looked like he got something else out of it. "They spent more than ten minutes kissing and hugging there. In the rain. Way overdue for his break. Then he took his time to escort the cop back to the building."

"He has to keep her interested and alive. Whatever he's planning, he can't afford to get the Kirihara brat dead. Trying to find another policewoman to help him run from the Syndicate can be time-consuming. He'll have to make sure she's clean from the Syndicate and in a position high enough to do anything — and there's only one woman in the city who qualifies those criteria."

"Hei can befriend men as well, did you forget? Hell, he can befriend the lady cop and drop info from the Syndicate, while not getting into a relationship with her. Classic informant situation. Try again, Huang."

Huang narrowed his eyes. "The hell that's supposed to mean?"

"You're grasping at straws, and you know it," Mao said bluntly. "Humans can be rational too; you certainly are when we're doing our jobs, even when you complain. But right now, you're trying your best to be obtuse in denying these facts when it's staring you at the face."

"You're thinking too much of this. How long have you been obsessed with Hei?" Huang countered.

"Call it curiosity, and I know what you're going to say about cats and curiosity," Mao said at the incoming snark, "but I think I prefer knowing than being left in the dark. You never know when things will go wrong, after all."

Huang glared, jabbing his cigarette out the window like a dart.

Mao pressed in. "You and I know Hei's not our typical contractor. Maybe... this means that somewhat, he also has some emotions. Been acting on them. Maybe... he hadn't lost them at all." The cat sounded intrigued and confused.

"That's crazy."

"But what else could explain it, Huang? We know about contracts and prices, but these things came from the Gates, and the Gates _ are _ crazy."

"Contractors don't have emotions."

"_I'm _ a contractor. I may be more rationally-inclined, but I do feel annoyed and frustrated at times. Like now, because my teammates aren't making sense. Hei's having an affair, Yin knows but isn't reporting, and you're taking this way too personally." Mao glared. "You're defensive. Why Huang?"

"Not your concern," Huang immediately said before he thought of it.

"Is it related to that thing in your jacket?"

Huang opened a new smoke.

"Oh, the silent treatment? This one's new. You're always vocal about your complaints. What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Mao gloated at his stupid joke.

Huang glared at the streets.

"People always underestimate me, you know," Mao continued; Huang can feel the creepy stare. "But I'm pretty observant. I can tell that Hei's issue is bothering you, and it relates to something personal, to that thing in your pocket."

The cat paused, obviously waiting for Huang to speak.

Annoyingly, the cat didn't get the hint. "Do you think Hei loves that woman? It's something I wouldn't think to relate to the Black Reaper, but last night was an eye-opener."

"He's a contractor. Of course he doesn't," Huang answered tersely, just to shut the yapping.

"You still think he's playing her? They were alone last night, not counting Yin, of course. He kept his arm around her when he escorted her back to the door. His entire attention was on her. I didn't think that he would notice me if I had walked up to them and started singing. Hell, he didn't even remember to take his knife. He's usually meticulous in crime scenes."

"He's lying. He's an incredible actor. And that poor woman fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker," Huang tightly clenched his pack of smokes.

"That woman almost died, and Hei looked like _ he _ almost died. I usually can't read him well, but last night, even I can tell that he was relieved that she didn't die," Mao sighed. "Huang, we covered all angles, and I know it's unbelievable and irrational, but what other explanation might be there? Why can't you accept that Hei might genuinely care for that woman?"

"Because it doesn't make sense!" Huang roared.

Mao fell from the seat.

Minutes passed as Huang stewed, pointedly glaring at the street outside. He didn't acknowledge the cat, groaning at the car carpet.

A man carrying groceries appeared from one side of the street, crossing to the other. Suddenly he perked up, looking back over his shoulder. With a big smile, he welcomed a woman running up to him. With a stupid kiss right out in the open, the two distributed the bags of groceries and continued the journey.

Huang looked down to get a new smoke from the crumpled box. At his periphery, the cat was already back on the seat.

Quietly, Mao said, "This _ is _ affecting you personally. Why?"

Still not facing the cat, Huang popped his lighter open and lit his smoke. He took a moment to inhale, something to fortify him. Then, "The main issue here is Hei. We don't know why he's doing this, just that he's doing this. Whatever _this_ is. He can jeopardize our missions; hell, he probably already has."

For a long moment, Huang again felt the creepy stare on the side of his face.

Eventually, Mao asked, "Then what about the cop?"

"She's being stupid."

"Do you think she knows about the rest of the team?"

"The hell if I know." But it was logical to assume that she does.

Mao was on the same path. "So we're exposed. And Yin knows but hasn't said anything."

"Maybe Hei gave her an order."

"You don't see her specter so you don't know about this, but she usually checks up on all of us even when no one tells her to. And yes, I asked her if you or Hei gave her an order for that. She said no."

Finally, Huang looked back at the cat. "You think Yin's doing stuff on her own?" This was the first time he heard of it.

"Yeah. It was strange, but it didn't jump to me as something really special, until the issue with Hei. Then I started noticing how often she checks up on me even when we're not on a job."

Great. Two potentially compromised assets. Three, if the cat's stubbornness could be counted. Huang rubbed his head tiredly.

Absurdly, he suddenly remembered Yin standing, arms outstretched. Silver tears were falling on her cheeks, face gazing sightlessly at the night sky. And Hei was behind her.

Any other contractor would've done the logical thing — kill the compromised doll and the man tied to the doll's past. After all, she was just a doll, a soulless puppet.

"_Don't call her that_," Hei had said over the corpse of the doll who impersonated Chiaki Shinoda, "_she wasn't a puppet_."

"...We'll sit this one out," Huang decided. "We'll observe Hei and Yin before doing any moves."

"Why not just let the Syndicate handle this?"

Huang scrunched his forehead. "When I was briefed on this team, BHG gave me a warning," he admitted. "He said that our missions are vital to the Syndicate's future, ten years in the making, and he specifically warned me not to screw up."

And for some reason, he didn't actually _ want _ to report Hei for this. Huang decided not to look too closely at that thought.

"And this is screwing up," Huang continued as he tapped his cigarette out the car window. "So for now, this is just between you and me. Keep an eye on the two of them, but your priority is Yin; I can't track her specter. I'll handle Hei."

"Affairs with women aside, he's the Black Reaper, Huang. How are you going to walk alive from a confrontation with him?" Mao reminded him.

"The cop can be a good motivation, if he really cares for that cop," Huang said, hiding his distaste at the idea of being involved with the police.

"What about the job? When is it supposed to be taken care of? When are you confronting him?"

"This week. The job takes priority. We'll confront him after."

"After, huh?" Mao sighed. "And the Baseball Hat Guy?"

"He might have suspicions, but nothing concrete. Still, it's better not to give him more ammo."

"Right. I don't like it, but there's no choice," Mao paused. "What if Hei compromises again during the mission?"

"He's been professional even with this thing he's doing. But if he's going too off-script, then I'll shoot him myself," Huang decided, face hard as stone.

Another contractor asset compromised. To his distaste, Huang knew how to deal with those.


End file.
